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- Date:
- Wednesday, November 07, 2007
- Author:
- Paul Johnson
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
Cooler Master Real Power Pro 1250w Power Supply
Cooler Master serves us up 1250 watts of power today with a new computer power supply that is sporting six +12v rails and enough 6-pin and 8-pin PCIe power connectors to handle up to three video cards. All with a 5 year warranty.
Overview
The first thing we are going to look at with the Cooler Master Real Power Pro 1250w is its packaging, accessories, and documentation. While normally none of these items is a make or break item for a power supply the packaging quite often contains a lot of information about the product we are purchasing. The inclusion of an owner’s manual that provides actual information about our product is also of great help. Accessories are almost unnecessary with a power supply as the unit is self contained, unless it is modular, but there are cases where a manufacturer can include useful accessories to make installation, routing, and use more efficient.
The rear of the Cooler Master Real Power Pro 1250w packaging is very similar to the Real Power Pro 750w and carries much of the information found on the units product page including the talking points bulleted on the left side of the box. The power table and connector count will be broken down below but there is a lot more to take away from the packaging. The unit is advertised as being energy efficient with greater than 85% efficiency and carries the 80 Plus sticker on the Cooler Master website, though Cooler Master's efficiency claims are unqualified on how this is determined on the box, but 80 Plus rates units at 115v AC input. Furthermore the unit does not appear on the 80Plus website nor does an OEM listing for Enhance that corresponds to this unit at the time of writing. This discrepancy could be due to this unit being very new to the market, but we will see how the unit’s efficiency does in our tests today. At the same time the packaging indicates that the unit is very quiet and lists a rating of 16dBa. Just like the Real Power Pro 750w that is a mighty impressive claim, and just like the Real Power Pro 750w 16dBA seems highly unlikely at any significant load. We do not evaluate noise levels in quantifiable terms because of the load tester we use but we will provide our impressions of this unit’s noise during testing and see how credible that 16dBa figure appears to the ear.
On the Real Power Pro 750w the unit was advertised as having a “Worry Free Power Failure” detector. This does not appear on the Real Power Pro 1250w packaging but it does appear on the units webpage and the unit does have a rear mounted LED like the Real Power Pro 750w. As was stated in the Real Power Pro 750w review users should think of this feature as an “idiot light” for a power supply as the LED only lights up whenever a power event occurs that keeps the unit from functioning (not that the whole PSU not working wouldn't have already clued the user in) without providing any other information. While a nice gesture, a more functional diagnostic LED output such as the ones included with the Enermax Galaxy DXX or Infiniti 720w would go a lot further as they actually help identify the problem not just tell you there is one. Breaking from the Real Power Pro 750w similarities this unit jettisons the useless, in our reviews anyway, bead cores but does boast of being SLI certified (again on the website). A quick check of the SLIZone website finds the Real Power Pro 1250w is not, at the time of writing, listed as being certified for SLI but the 1000w version is while a quick check of the CrossFire page yields no results. Again, this most likely is due to the timing of the unit’s entry to the market.
The Cooler Master Real Power Pro 1250w seems to be going for the “more is better” philosophy on a couple of fronts today. To begin with the unit has “six” 12v rails good for 93.75A. This is good for a possible 90% of the unit’s total DC output and the first time we have seen a “six” 12v rail unit. Paired with these “six” 12v rails are six 6-pin PCI-Express connectors and three 8-pin PCI-Express connectors. However, three of the 6-pin PCI-Express Connectors share the same cable as the three 8-pin PCI-Express Connectors. Three of the 6-pin PCI-Express Connector have their own cables. The 12 rails feeding these connectors break down such that one of these dual-use cables and one 6-pin PCI-Express cable are fed by a single 12v rail with an available 28A of power on each of these 12v rails. This arrangement should cover just about any SLI or CrossFire configuration currently available with room to spare. Lastly, the unit features a very high +5vsb capacity of 6A.
Once we open the packaging of the Cooler Master Real Power Pro 1250w we find the typical arrangement of power supply items including the unit itself, some mounting screws, silica, user manual, power cord, and a bottle opener key chain. (Well the bottle opener key chain isn’t usually standard but it is an interesting touch.) For evaluations sake I have had to force myself to attach the bottle opener to my key chain for bottle opening emergencies and I must say the aluminum is holding up much better than the common metal Guinness one from the Believers Tour it replaced. The included user manual is one of the thickest we have seen to date but that could be due to the text being reproduced in 8 different languages with each spanning 8 pages. The good news is in those 8 pages is a load of pertinent information including the warranty length, terms, and contact information. Additionally the user manual includes just about all the electrical specifications of note including the rail distribution, operating parameters, and pinouts. The troubleshooting section though might as well be omitted since it doesn't actually tell the user anything other than to plug in the connectors and flip the on/off switch. Overall the Cooler Master Real Power Pro packaging is good with a detailed user manual that is always a welcome sight just like in the Real Power Pro 750w review.